4CS001 : INTRODUCTORYPROGRAMMING AND PROBLEM SOLVING

4CS001-Coding Challenge4

IndividualProgrammingProject

This assignmentis worth40%oftheoverallmodulegrade

Introduction:

This codingchallengewillassessyourknowledgeofprogrammingandproblem solving,thisisyourchancetoshowcasewhatyou’velearnedonthemodule.

ThemarkingschemeforthistaskisonCanvas,makesureyoucheckbackonaregularbasis asyouworkthroughtheassessment.

You can implement this task in either Python or Java.

TaskOverview:

Textadventures(orinteractivefictions)areoneoftheoldestcomputergamegenres,dating backtothe60’sand70’s.Hardwarelimitationsatthetimemadedevelopinggraphicalinterfaces challenging.Instead,gameswerecontrolledthrough textualinterfaces,withcommands providedbytheplayerintheformofsimplewordsorphrases.Theseinputscanbeparsedand usedtoupdatetheinternalgamestate,whichisthenrelayedtotheplayerviatextual output. Thisinteractionformsthemain gameplayloopand ofteninvolvesplayersmaking theirway throughanin-gameworldmadeupof variouslocations,obtainingitems,solvingpuzzlesand muchmore.Thepossibilities areendless…

Togetabetterideaofwhatthesegamesareall about,it’sworthcheckingoutsomepopular gamesinthegenresuchas:‘Adventure’,‘Dreamhold’and‘Zork’.Youcanaccessseveral of thesegames onlineatthefollowinglink: http://textadventures.co.uk/ . In particular, one of the most famous original text adventure game series, Zork, can be accessed here :http://textadventures.co.uk/games/view/5zyoqrsugeopel3ffhz_vq/zork .

Yourtaskis tocreateyourowntextadventuregameinPythonorJava.

Getting Started:

Thereisnotemplatefileforthistask,youwillneedtocreateanewprogramfromscratch. Makesureyouaddyournameandstudentnumbertothetopofyoursubmission.

MinimumRequirements:

Youwilldevelopabasictext adventuregame.Youdonotneedtoincludeanypuzzlesorworry aboutwritingcompellingstories/addingwitty responses.Playersshouldbepresentedwith snippetsof narrativeandaskedtomakechoicestoprogressthegame.Thisshouldcontinue untiltheplayercompletes thegameorfails/dies.Toachieveapassinggrade,youwillneedto demonstrateknowledgeofdatastructures,functions,selectionanditeration,aswell as documentingyourcode.Refertothemark schemeonCanvas formore details.

Hereis theoverarchingbehaviourweexpectofabasictextadventuregame:

1.   Presentplayers withthenameofthegameandanintroductiononlaunch.

2.   Checkiftheplayerhas wonorlostthegameYoushouldeither:

a.  Informtheplayerthey’velostandendthegame. b.  Congratulatetheplayer andendthegame.

3.   Presentedplayerswithsomenarrativetoprogressthegame.

4.   Givetheplayerseveralchoicestopickfromthatallowthemto interactwiththeworld.

5.   Players shouldpickachoice or enteraverb/command. Thismightallowthemtomove toanewlocation,pickupordropanitem,attackenemiesetc.

6.   Checkiftheuserhasenteredavalidinput.Ifnot,continuetoprompttheuseruntilthey

enteravalidresponse,otherwise,proceedtothenextstep.

7.   Parsetheplayersinput,updatetheinternalgamestateandproceedtoStep2.

Complete Requirements:

Theabove sectiondescribestheminimumrequirementsneededtoattainapassinggrade. However, toachievethemaximum possiblemark,youwillneedtoaddmorecomplexsystemsand functionality, showcasingtheknowledgeandprogramming skills youhavedevelopedoverthe courseof themodule.Belowareexamplesofmoreadvancedfunctionsthatyoumaywishto addtoyourgame,implementingthesewillattractadditionalmarks.

  Ratherthangivingplayersfixedchoicestoselectfrom,allowthemtoentermore complexinputs/verbs.This shouldhelptogivetheimpression thatmorechoiceis availabletoplayers andmakethegamemorecomplex.

  Severaldifficultylevels thatchangethegameinsomeform(easy,mediumandhard).

  Persistentscoring systemtotrackplayers progress(reading/writingfiles).

  Menu systems withvarious options (play,leaderboardsetc.)

  Randomisedaspectsofthegame,forexampledifferentenemiesorweaponscould spawn,youcouldstartindifferentlocations etc.

  Thegamecouldbefleshedouttoincludevariousbranchingpathsratherthanhaving playersfollowalinearroutethroughtocompletion.Forexample,thenarrativecould beaffectedbythechoices playersmake.

Structureand Documentation

Thestructureofyourcodeanddocumentationwillbeanalysedandassessed.

For Python, thiswillbedoneusingastaticanalysistool calledPylint.Thissoftwarechecksthecodein yourprogram,ensuresthatitfollowsPython or Javaconventionsandthatall functions,classesand moduleshavebeendocumented.

Python hasan official styleguidenamedPEP8,whichiswheremostPython conventions/codingstandards originatefrom.Examplechecks thatPylintcarries outtoensure thatthe PEP8codingstandardisfollowedincludethings suchas:

         checkingline-code’slength

         checkingif variablenamesarewell-formed (snakecase)

         checkingifimportedmodules/functionsareused

         checkingif variables/function parametersareused

Itis agoodideatorunthesechecks onyourcodeatregularintervals andbeforesubmitting. Thereareseveralfreewebsites thatallowyoutodothis e.g. http://pep8online.com/

Note:Marks willbedeductedforwarninganderrors detectedinyourcode.